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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22427587">Song of The Sea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiger_chan/pseuds/Tiger_chan'>Tiger_chan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Song of The Sea [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Common Sense, Dad!Cor, Fem!Noctis, Gen, Good Ardyn Izunia, Good Titus Drautos | Glauca, Multi, Prompto's everyone's favorite, and self-indulgence, bro!loqi, everyone wants to stab the emperor, fem!regis, for the plot, most of the kingsglaive probably make an appearance, no paperwork was completed in the making of this family, slight genderbending, slight maniacal laughter, sort of MT!prompto, technically pseudo adopted</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:46:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,806</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22427587</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiger_chan/pseuds/Tiger_chan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The funny thing about the ocean is that while all life sprung from it, all life will return to it. Sometimes violently. Beware it's song silly sailor, for you'll never know if it will lead you to a lighthouse, or swallow you whole beneath it's waves.</p><p>Or; Noctis gets a pseudo adopted older sister. And she is Very Unhappy at both this prophecy nonsense and the idiots in charge of Niflheim thinking they can f*ck with her family.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Song of The Sea [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1614034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Who is This Sassy Child?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first ffxv fic! and I'm actually pretty proud! Though it's gone through a lot of changes, and I'm going to shout out to Seito and SecretEnigma for a lot of the characterizations that might show up, their glorious writings helped inspire me to actually jump on the actually writing fic for this fandom bandwagon. :) Also you can blame SecretEnigma for good!Titus. They write him fabulously. Go read some of their stuff after this, they're all great.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Titus wasn’t even sure why he tried anymore. Clearly the only person with any control over Ulric’s actions was Ostium. Who was not here. Which was probably why Ulric was getting away with harassing the only other person in the apartment lobby. Who was a child. Titus was not paid nearly enough for this. Heaving a full body sigh, Titus headed over to save Ulric from making even more of a mess, as Titus clearly saw in the girl’s body language and face that she was getting to the point where bludgeoning Ulric with her groceries was a very real possibility. Creeping behind him, Titus cleared his throat. Ulric was the only one to jump though, as the girl saw him coming. He whirled around and paled at the sight of Titus.</p><p>"Captain! I didn't know you lived here too!" He tried to deflect with a smile-grimace. Titus wasn't impressed, and neither was the girl if the impressively judgemental raised eyebrow was any sign.</p><p>"And I didn't realize you harassed children in your off time, and yet, here we are." Titus deadpanned. The girl snorted and relaxed minisculely, eyeing him warily, but less like he was a threat than before. Ulric, meanwhile, was sputtering in indignation, futilely trying to defend himself.</p><p>"Ulric." He froze at the tone, straightening up to attention.</p><p>"Yes Captain?"</p><p>"Go find Ostium." Ulric winced but nodded.</p><p>"Yes Captain." Ulric said and all but fled under the unimpressed glare of his Captain. Titus sighed after he left before turning towards the girl, who was still looking at him in suspicion.</p><p>"I apologize for Glaive Ulric. He still doesn't understand impulse control, or manners apparently." She snorted again. Titus' lips twitched upwards microscopically.</p><p>"I figured." She said softly.</p><p>"I'll have to apologize again though." She blinked up at him in surprise. Titus softened slightly, relaxing his body language.</p><p>"I seem to have forgotten my own manners you see, my name is Titus Drautos, I am the Captain of the Kingsglaive." He told her. She looked surprised again as she tilted her head slightly. Titus felt the odd feeling of being heavily scrutinized by this small child.</p><p>"Alethea." She said softly again, putting down some of her bags to outstretch her hand. Titus blinked and reached out to shake it firmly but not hard.</p><p>"Nice to meet you." Alethea told him. As she went to pick her bags back up, Titus frowned.</p><p>"Would you like some help?" It would seem his own impulse control was on the fritz, as he hadn't meant to ask that. Her head snapped back to him with a sharpness in her gray eyes that surprised him.</p><p>"I'm fine. I don't need help." She retorted. Titus did his best to keep his face neutral, that level of defensiveness set off red flags, along with the fact that her hands were a painful looking red from when she was carrying so many bags, neither said good things.</p><p>"That wasn't what I asked." Titus said calmly. The cold defensiveness slowly melted from her face as her brow furrowed in confusion.</p><p>"I asked if you would <em>like</em> help. I'm sure you <em>could </em>handle it." She stared at him in suspicion.</p><p>"Why?" Titus fought down another frown.</p><p>"Because of how much Glaive Ulric and I have held you up." She cocked her head again. Titus let free a rueful smile before gesturing to her hand.</p><p>"I also know how painful it is to carry my groceries in hands that red. Consider it repayment for my subordinate’s actions." Alethea stared at him in surprise again, and Titus was carefully not thinking about why she'd be surprised by a common kindness.</p><p>"That's it?" She asked.</p><p>"That, and I wouldn't put it past Glaive Ulric to try to ambush you to finish your, ah, <em>conversation</em> once I leave." He said, trying to bring humor back into the conversation. Titus was relieved to see her lips twitch upwards in a faint smile. Alethea stared at him some more, then gave a single firm nod.</p><p>"Alright."</p>
<hr/><p>Titus stared at the back of Alethea's head, going over everything he learned about his newest neighbor. She was eight, preferred her black hair in two braids because <em>'that way it doesn't get in my face Captain'</em>, her default tone of voice appeared to be soft, just moved in couple days ago, which was why she had so many groceries and why he'd never seen her before, and she was emancipated. At <em>eight</em>. Which Titus was taken aback by, but didn't question too much because it was one of the things Alethea became <em>incredibly</em> defensive over.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>"Emancipated?" Titus asked in disbelief. Alethea immediately became defensive.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yes? What's the problem? I'm enrolled in school, have a job, and know how to feed myself." Alethea snapped softly at him. Titus relaxed his body language again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Nothing really, most eight-year-old aren't emancipated is all. It surprised me." Titus replied. Alethea glared at him for another moment.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I told you I can take care of myself."</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>Yes, asking her about it wouldn't be a good idea even if the protective thing in his chest was already attached and worried. Titus paused in surprise at the door they stopped at. He hadn't realized that she lived literally two doors down from him.</p><p>"What?" He looked down at her.</p><p>"Ah, it's nothing. I just didn't realize you lived this close to me." He responded, gesturing towards his door. She looked and blinked at it, then shrugged and opened her door. It's only when she turned back to him with an outstretched hand that he noticed what she wanted. Titus handed her the bags he held as she put them inside her door with the others.</p><p>"Alethea." He started to say before pausing and clearing his throat.</p><p>"If there's ever an emergency, or you wanted help with something, you have my permission to knock on my door." Titus stated awkwardly. Alethea blankly stared at him.</p><p>"...Why?" Titus shifted under her stare; he wasn't used to children looking at him like that.</p><p>"Think of it as an offer to help if Glaive Ulric or any of the others try to give you a hard time again." Titus replied, hiding the fact that he offered because she was <em>8</em> and he wanted her to have <em>somewhere</em> she could go in an emergency. But if he said that, Alethea would probably take it as an insult to her ability to take care of herself.</p><p>"...Kay." She said. Titus relaxed a bit. Whether or not she would actually take him up on it was another question, one that could only be answered by time. As he turned to go, Alethea tugged on his clothes. Turning back, he stared at the top of her head. She wasn't looking at him.</p><p>"...Thank you for your help." Titus smiled.</p><p>"Anytime kid."</p>
<hr/><p>Alethea kept glancing back at her door as she put her groceries away. It had been a very odd day. She just wasn't sure if she could classify it as a bad odd though...</p><p>Her grocery run had gone reasonably well, in that she found everything on her list and still had a decent amount of gil left over. The walk back to the apartment hadn't exactly been <em>fun</em> but nothing bad happened. The weird teenager, Glaive Ulric had been annoying. Kind of sad, but mostly annoying. And Alethea still wasn't sure what to make of the Captain. He had been... kind she thinks. Alethea wasn't sure what to do with kind. The man hadn't seemed to be hiding cruelty, and his magic had felt steady, and sort of... warm. Alethea didn't know what to do or even think about his offer either. She scowled to herself and rapidly shook her head.</p><p>"Not thinking about this anymore." She sing-songed to the empty apartment. Frowning at the sparseness of it, Alethea continued to sing to herself.</p><p>"Hmm, gonna need ta get~</p><p>A couch soon~</p><p>Maybe even a table 'n a rug~</p><p>To put in front~!" She sashayed around the empty room before stopping in front of her bedroom, glaring balefully at the sleeping bag.</p><p>"But first~</p><p>Definitely gonna get a bed~!" Alethea finished, feeling a little better after singing. Her new apartment was great in that it had a fully furnished kitchen with a sink, fridge, oven, and microwave, but that was pretty much all that it had. She'd have to save up for anything else. Humming to herself, Alethea nodded, she was pretty sure she could do it.</p><p>"But first~</p><p>Gotta go to work~." She sang as she got out her uniform for tomorrow. First day of work, here she comes.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Some People Fall in Love, Others Crash</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Alethea tentatively makes a new friend(who may or may not be one of the cutest kids in existence), the King makes a brief appearance, and Titus worries.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For once in her life, Alethea was pretty happy. Nothing's gone wrong at her job, it's actually been kind of fun cleaning the Citadel, she gets to find all the nooks and crannies that people have forgotten about, and laundry duty isn't that bad, even if some of the people are idiots when sorting so she has to be super careful. And school's been going great. Titus was still weird, and a little weirder after he found out she worked at the Citadel too, if as a maid. Secretly, and only to herself, Alethea had to admit that it was kind of nice that someone would knock on her door in the morning to make sure she was ready. Glaive Ulric had only tried to bother her once, before someone he called "Libs" practically body dragged him away from her, apologizing to her and lecturing Glaive Ulric as he did so. So, of course, something would throw a wrench into her life.</p>
<p>"Umm..." Alethea jerked her head up from her project to find an incredibly small child staring at her with wide blue eyes. Alethea blinked at her. <em>What</em>.</p>
<p>"...Hi?" She said to the kid with an awkward wave. Said kid waved back just as awkwardly. Alethea straightened up from where she was hunched over her laptop.</p>
<p>"Can I help you?" She asked. The kid ducked her head a bit before looking back at Alethea shyly.</p>
<p>"Who are you?" Alethea blinked and smiled</p>
<p>"My name's Alethea welcome to my little homework nook." She said warmly. The kid beamed.</p>
<p>"I'm Noct!" She chirped. Alethea reflexively widened her smile while internally going <em>Oh no</em>. For you see, Alethea had a weakness for genuinely cute things, and Noct was absolutely <em>adorable</em>. It didn't help that she had some of the strongest, brightest, and sweetest magic Alethea's ever sensed practically bursting out of her. <em>Oh no</em> she thinks as she crashes head over heels in love with this small child.</p>
<p>"Hello Noct, what brings you to my little nook?" Alethea asked again, internally squealing at the head tilt Noct did.</p>
<p>"Nook?" Noct asked in confusion.</p>
<p>"Ah, basically it's a corner that's kind of away from everything else so it's quiet and kind of warm feeling." Alethea explained. Noct nodded along, then proceeded to scrunch up her nose like a bunny. Excuse Alethea please, she's just dying inside from the cute.</p>
<p>"Iggy was trying to make me eat veg-et-ables." Noct told her seriously, over pronouncing "vegetables". Alethea hummed.</p>
<p>"Yes that does sound terrible." Alethea agreed with good humor. Noct lit up at her agreement.</p>
<p>"What about you?" She asked back. Alethea blinked.</p>
<p>"Whatcha doing here?" Noct asked. Alethea smiled and gestured at her laptop.</p>
<p>"Homework mostly." She told her. Noct looked confused.</p>
<p>"I go to school using my laptop, so pretty much all of my assignments are on it too, so I just do them during my lunch break." Alethea tried to explain. Noct tilted her head again.</p>
<p>"...Kay." Alethea laughed. Noct practically shone. Alethea hummed again.</p>
<p>"You can stay if you want. But only until the end of my lunch break, then I have to go back to work." Alethea offered, though Noct looked confused again.</p>
<p>"Aren't you workin?" She asked. Alethea laughed again, but not meanly.</p>
<p>"Sort of. This is for school. Once my break ends I'll have to go back to working around the Citadel. They're two different kinds of work." Alethea explained with a smile.</p>
<p>"Oh, okay." Noct said, then plopped down next to Alethea with a grin. Alethea could <em>die</em>. Oh well, she wasn't making much progress on her project anyway.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Regis gazed in amusement at her Captain. She knew it was probably a little mean to find amusement in his panic, but this has been going on for months now, and with all the work the Council kept dropping on her, she was at the point of finding joy in the little things.</p>
<p>"Really Titus, isn't this a little much?" Regis sighed with a small smile. Said smile widened in amusement at the <em>look</em> her friend shot her in return.</p>
<p>"It's getting colder Regis! And she's still walking to the Citadel by herself!" Titus exclaimed in his agitation. Regis felt her expression shift. She hummed as Titus deflated.</p>
<p>"It's still September Titus, she has plenty of time to either warm up to you enough to accept more help or figure something else out for herself. After all, from what you said, Alethea sounds like a smart girl." Regis chided her friend gently. Titus deflated more even as he nodded along with what she said. Regis gazed at him with a fondness softening her mouth and eyes as Titus' brows furrowed. She knew he would worry regardless of what she said. The way his heart bled for those vulnerable and in need was one of the things she admired about him. It was also one of the reasons she had made him Captain of her Kingsglaive. Considering the fact that most of her Glaives were underage refugees, she had needed someone strong and kind to entrust them to. And Titus had not disappointed her in either regard. She smiled helplessly fond at him, no, Titus had not disappointed her at all. Titus looked up, only to flush slightly under her gaze.</p>
<p>"What?" He asked. Regis just shook her head and laughed softly.</p>
<p>"Just remembering why I made you Captain is all." She said warmly. Titus blushed harder and looked away. So shy when it came to his strengths, she thought with a touch of sadness. Regis hummed again as she changed the subject to her Glaives.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Alethea hummed happily to herself. It had been a good day. Noct had been sweet and adorable, asking questions about her project that, surprisingly, let her move forward and corrected a couple parts that had been lackluster. Child logic was both strange and wonderful Alethea was beginning to find out. She did hope whoever Noct's Iggy was didn't mind that she aided the younger girl's veggie dodging <em>too</em> much. Alethea sped up a little when she spotted Titus, she didn't usually see him in the evenings.</p>
<p>"Captain!" She crowed as she darted to his side, mischief in her eyes. Her smile dimmed a bit as she looked at him though. Titus looked <em>exhausted</em>.</p>
<p>"Hmm?" He looked down at her slowly. He forced a tired smile on his face. This of course, only made Alethea more concerned.</p>
<p>"Are you alright?" Alethea asked, cocked head and brow furrowed. Titus sighed, smile dropping and coming up to rub his face.</p>
<p>"Yes, just tired of dealing with idiots." He told her tiredly. Alethea pursed her lips, peering up at him in suspicion.</p>
<p>"Glaive Ulric?" Alethea asked, eyes squinted and all the suspicion a nine year old could muster in her tiny body in her voice. Titus barked a tired laugh.</p>
<p>"No, not this time." He said in good humor.</p>
<p>"Just meddlesome old fools who can't do anything on their own." Titus told her with a bitter twist to his lips. Alethea kept staring at him in concern as he deflated some.</p>
<p>"Is that why you're back so early?" She asked. Titus glanced at her in surprise, eyes and mouth softening in wry amusement.</p>
<p>"No. Regis didn't trust me not to do something regrettable with the way things were going. She sent me home to cool down." Titus softened even more. Alethea tilted her head.</p>
<p>"Regis?" She questioned. Titus blinked at her in confusion, but she just stared back at him in question.</p>
<p>"Ah, yes. King Regis is my boss." Titus said uncertainly, not quite sure what Alethea was asking. Whatever it was, it appeared he answered it as her eyes lit up in understanding and slight mischief.</p>
<p>"So the King sent you to take a time out?" She teased. Titus reflexively chuckled in surprise. From a certain viewpoint, that was exactly what Regis did.</p>
<p>"I suppose that's one way to put it. But keep in mind that I wasn't the only one to, ah, be put in a time out. Marshal Leonis was also asked to retire before an incident could occur." Titus said in good humor. Alethea giggled a bit. He felt lighter.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I have no idea when the next chapter will be out. Again. What I do know is that Alethea will have to answer for her help in veggie dodging. Just not to who and how you think she will. Stay safe!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have no idea when the next chapter will be out.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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